Which is the best argument around that events are being driven by the very short-sighted German domestic political concerns of Angela Merkel and not by economic understanding or financial prudence of any sort. Given the situation and given the extraordinary willingness of the Irish government to attempt to swallow the whale of debt they have assumed, one would think that the governments whose banks are counter-parties to Irish debt would be more than happy to make loans available at zero percent and see how much of the whale Ireland could swallow. But no! They want to make 5.7% interest on the loan! They may as well drop a 20 megaton bomb on Dublin for all the good this will do in helping Ireland to attempt the impossible.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."